Western Power posts large profit amid rising debt

Western Power CEO Paul Italiano says the utility's profit has increased but so has debt.

ABC News

Western Power has posted an annual profit of $191 million, up 21 per cent on last year.

The utility's annual report shows its debt levels have also increased, up 13 per cent on last financial year, to almost $6.2 billion.

Western Power says that is partly due to increased spending on improvements to the ageing power pole network.

CEO Paul Italiano says the results are in line with forecasts.

"The important thing to know is that Western Power is regulated," he said.

"The results that we've produced this year are consistent with the findings of the Economic Regulation Authority, including the increase in debt.

"So this is in line with expectations for the organisation."

Mr Italiano says the increase in debt is not unusual during a period of infrastructure upgrading.

"That's not uncommon for a business like ours. We have to recover on a period of under investment in our network and the cost of running the network is recovered from consumers over a period of time," he said.

"In the intervening period, the outflow of investment in the network has to be covered somewhere and that's covered by debt."